208 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Hollister is a man now of something over sixty years of age, al- 

 though his appearance does not indicate his age. He is still a robust, 

 strong and vigorous man. I should not have recognized him from 

 the changes which maturity has brought about in his appearance. 

 We have promise of hearing from him through our monthly. 



APPLE BLIGHT IN REVIEW. 



PROF. WM. ROBERTSON, MINN. COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, ST. ANTHONY 



PARK. 



Prof. Robertson : Almost everybody here lays everything to Mr. 

 Philips or the secretary, I wish to lay this to the secretary. He 

 gives me something to talk about every year, something I don't know 

 anything about, but this year he gave me a subject that I know less 

 about than any other, but I took it because I want to learn something 

 about it myself. I looked up all the literature I could find in review. 

 It does not all appear in this paper, but I have gone over everything 

 I could find and then hammered it into the paper. If there is any- 

 thing I have not suggested in the paper as to the work that has been 

 done I think I can cite you to where you can find the results of the 

 work in that line. I might say I have not reviewed a great deal of 

 the literature because it is nothing but a reiteration of the work of 

 somebody else, but I have taken up some of the work that has been 

 done by three men, as mentioned in the paper. 



Literature on pear blight, frozen-sap blight, apple blight, fire 

 blight, twig blight and blossom blight, all of which are the same 

 disease, dates back to the eighteenth century. You may find some 

 interesting extracts in the N. Y. Agr. Exp. Sta. Report for 1886. 

 The writers seem to include horticulturists, editors and preachers. 



In 1817 Wm. Coxe says the disease is due to cultivation of fruit 

 trees. 



In 1843 Thos. Fossenden says the causes are a borer, the sun's 

 rays and high manuring. He advises cutting ofif branches below the 

 affected parts. 



H. W. Beecher says autumn freezing of unripe wood produces 

 a poison. 



As early as 1846 a Mr. Gookins says he strongly inclines to the 

 belief that it is an epidemic and that the air is a medium for carrying 

 it. He inoculated a pear tree by lifting a portion of bark and insert- 

 ing virus from an affected tree. This is the first record I find of ex- 

 perimental work. 



In 1848 Downing argues that the blight is due to scorching 

 caused by drops of water acting as lenses on the sun's rays. 



J. A. Kennicott, as early as 1850, finds flowers and fruit spurs 

 affected with blight. 



